Salt on an Open Wound
by iwritebadbutdealwithit98
Summary: A little rewrite of the scene from the script reading of Maledictator (Since people want to talk about healthy relationships, here's how communication within a healthy relationship works.)


Marinette watched as Adrien turned away from her and stepped out of the classroom. He was out there alone while everyone laughed at his friend. She couldn't help feeling she'd crossed a line.

"Adrien, wait!" She caught the door before it slid back into place. Adrien peered over his shoulder when he felt resistance. He sighed and walked to the railing of the balcony, wrapping his arms around himself.

Marinette followed him quietly, watching when his eyes went blankly to the ground. "Are you ok?" She wanted to touch his arm but thought better of it when she figured Adrien was angry with her.

"I'm not angry with you, Marinette," Adrien shook his head, "It's just… this is all happening so fast. Now she's alone, and-" he turned to the windows of the classroom, "I'm so glad she can't see all of this."

Despite herself, Marinette chuckled, "If she could see this she'd turn back around to yell at all of us, maybe put us through even worse hell than before."

"I don't think she'd come back, but you're right that she'd get worse." Adrien ran his fingers through his hair, "I feel horrible, I let this happen. I should've run after her when she stormed out. I'm a horrible friend."

This time Marinette did reach out to touch his arm. She tugged his wrist gently, taking his hand from his face. "No, you're not, trust me. You wouldn't be this worried if you were. You didn't laugh her out of the classroom… and out of Paris, apparently."

Adrien let a small smile spread across his lips. "It's not your fault either, I'm sorry if I made you feel that way. No one could've known this would happen. But it's not always about what I did do, it's about what I didn't."

"It's like you said, it was all happening so fast no one really thought to go check on her. To be fair, none of us are her friends… I don't think we ever would've thought to. Sorry." Marinette smiled awkwardly.

"That's perfectly fair, I wasn't expecting any of you to be mourning for her or anything. I totally get it, it's a relief to know you won't get your designs stolen or vandalized again, right?"

Marinette nodded.

Adrien continued, "But I'd feel better knowing she was ok, or that there was a different reason she felt the need to leave. Instead, she was laughed at and humiliated to the point she doesn't want to show her face here anymore. It's the same thing she does except times ten! Maybe it was funny, and it might've felt good to laugh at her for once, but in the end, shouldn't we be doing something to show we aren't like her?"

"... like, running after her," Marinette finished what Adrien was thinking, "It's like we're encouraging her behavior, not because of something we did, but because of what we didn't do!"

Adrien laughed shyly and ducked his head, "Oh no, am I lecturing you?"

"No, Adrien, you were just giving me your opinion and I'm starting to understand. But it's a bit late now, and-" Marinette looked at her classmates, beaming at each other in the classroom. "I can't say I really want her back."

"I know, but there will always be someone like Chloe, maybe even worse than Chloe, if you make room for them. The difference is we know Chloe, or at least I do, and we can do something about her. Something that actually helps everyone, including her."

Marinette bit her lip. Was she really going to say it? So far he wasn't angry with her, he didn't even blame her for feeling like a burden had been lifted from her shoulders. But who was she, and what was Adrien to her if she couldn't say what's on her mind. "I- can I be honest?"

"Of course," Adrien beamed, an oddly knowing twinkle in his eye, "It's your life principle isn't it?" He blinked, "Or- was that you? I might be confused…"

"No, you're right, I do hate liars…" Marinette twiddled her fingers, "It's just… sometimes it feels like you don't care."

Adrien flinched, blood draining from his face. Her words hung in the air, as thick as a humid summer day. She couldn't take it back, but she wasn't sure she really wanted to, some things had to be said. "What?! I do care! I do my best to defend people she hurts, honest."

"But what about people who think they're her friend? Sabrina and Kim care about her very much, they even look up to her. She treats them no better than everyone else."

Adrien thought for a moment. "How do we know we're seeing everything?"

"We don't, it could be even worse behind the scenes."

"You're right, and we could ask Sabrina or Kim about it in private to see if it were the case. But I know Chloe, and it's not like that. Sabrina and Chloe enjoy each others' company, Chloe and I do too."

"You don't always act like it, you seem uncomfortable whenever she's near you."

"I am. Ever since I saw what she was like at school, it's so strange. I didn't know what to think. And I definitely didn't want to kiss someone who's practically a sister to me. I've told her and she seems to be backing off."

Marinette built up some more courage, taking a large gulp of breath even though it was shaky. "She's backing off from you . Nothing has changed for everyone else. She still takes pride in ruining the fun for everyone else. It's nice that you wish she didn't do so, but feeling sorry isn't enough. You let her off too easily."

"Well…" Adrien looked away, a thoughtful crease between his eyebrows. "It's scary to insist too much. It doesn't feel like it's my place to scold her too much."

"Er… isn't that.. what you're doing to me right now? Ehehehe.." Marinette swallowed thickly, hoping to God she could survive this conversation without hurting Adrien. She knew it was more important to protect herself and all of her classmates, but she wanted it to be done as calmly as possible, Adrien was her friend and classmate too.

Adrien's eyes looked horrified. She wasn't sure what it meant or what to do, so she just sputtered the first thing that always comes to mind when around him, "I-I mean, I'm sorry-"

"Don't be."

Marinette's jaw snapped shut.

"You're completely right, I'm doing to you what I should be doing to Chloe… ugh," Adrien rubbed at his temples, "I guess the thing is… I can't do this alone. I think it's because I know how alike she and I are."

"What?! Don't be ridiculous, you're nothing like her!"

Adrien laughed awkwardly. "I haven't been nice to everyone, you know. There's plenty of things I regret and can't take back, or I regret things I've shamefully considered. One time I was jealous of a guy and all he did was admit he liked the same girl I did. I lied and told him I was already dating her, and I wasn't very gentle about it either…"

"But did you apologize?"

"Not… formally- not really. I thought maybe leaving him to talk with the girl would do but I should've taken longer to talk to him myself. Now it's the first impression he has of me, so that's probably all I am to him. Really mean and a huge liar. Just like Chloe. She lies and gets mean when she feels cornered or afraid. But if I were in Chloe's shoes right now I think I'd like to be welcomed back or.. I don't know…"

"Everyone makes mistakes a few times, Chloe does it constantly, I still don't think it's fair to compare yourself to her."

"The amount of times doesn't matter, depending on the perspective."

"But you seem a lot more regretful about it, you're a good person, Adrien. Maybe what you mean is, Chloe has the potential to be a good person too, we just don't see it because she's not as quick to learn-" Marinette furrowed her eyebrows, straightening her back as though she'd made a decision. "It's because we need more patience with Chloe- not that I won't get mad at her still, and I definitely won't ignore when she does something messed up- but, you do need more help. Leaving all the pressure on you just because you're her friend isn't fair and isn't going to get us anywhere. The best we can do is be an example for Chloe."

Adrien smiled, reaching over to squeeze Marinette's hand. "Thank you, Marinette."

Marinette stepped closer and hugged him, keeping her arms around him as she spoke over his shoulder. "You know what this reminds me of?"

"What?" Adrien's breath tickled against Marinette's ear, she took a step back and released her embrace.

"I don't know if you remember from your last visit, but I keep flowers in my room because I really love them, so I know a lot about them. Did you know sunflowers get mistaken for weeds a lot? Especially as babies, they don't look much like pretty flowers. They're even related to weeds. And then there are weeds that look a lot like flowers. You end up uprooting beautiful plants and leaving the problem behind, only making things worse. You could say Chloe is like a sunflower, and her feelings are the weeds we don't notice."

"Should I tell her you called her a sunflower?" Adrien winked.

Marinette pulled out her cellphone, "Don't bother."

Chloe waited as her luggage was loaded onto the private jet. She frowned at the text she'd received from Adrien, typing out a simple reply before shoving it into her purse. She jumped when her phone started to vibrate over and over; a phone call.

"Adrien…" Chloe pulled out her phone and froze when she saw the caller ID. With a reluctant tap, she answered the phone. "What do you want?!"

"Hi, Chloe. I just wanted to say I'm sorry about what happened and I wish you didn't have to leave so soon," Marinette paused for Chloe to respond.

"Well, too bad. I'm already on my way and I'll never have to see any of your stupid faces again… I'm... overjoyed."

"But Chloe! I wanted to make it up to you first. Maybe you and Ladybug really could be friends! I told Ladybug what happened and she agreed to meet you at your hotel for a real interview as long as you don't lie about her anymore, how's that sound?"

"... and how would you know Ladybug?"

"Because I- I'm… friends with Chat Noir!"

"This better not be a trick, Marinette Dupain-Cheng."

"Ladybug will be there, I promise."

Chloe was silent for a few moments. She looked to her mother, waving from the stairs of the jet. She looked across Paris, her home, and the only place she could say she had friends. "Marinette!"

"Yes, Chloe?"

"...Thank you," Chloe immediately hung up, cringing as she tossed her phone into her purse. Her stomach was twisted and her heart was pounding. "Mom! We need to stay, I- I need stomach medicine from the drugstore."

"From the drugstore ?!"

"Yes, now hurry up!" Chloe rushed back to her limousine, pulling her phone out and dialing Adrien excitedly.

Notes:

As someone who understands where both Marinette and Adrien are coming from, I felt the need to set a scene of my own. I've had plenty of bullies, often because I was always the odd one out. Meaning I had bullies who turned almost entire classes against me, in middle school. I've had entire classes laugh at me, I've had rumors spread about me, I've had things stolen, I've been framed for things my bullies did, I've had my hair pulled, I've been pinched, I've been scratched, heck even a teacher made me cry once (and she was supposed to be a nice friend of mine) but I guess I was too different.

I was a really shy kid, I still am, so I couldn't really find a way to handle it correctly. The best thing I could think of was doing things back, because that's how an immature kid thinks; they did it to me so they deserve it back, 'do onto others as you would have them do onto you' turned into 'others do onto you as you should do onto them'. The result? I was getting in trouble for my comebacks instead of them getting in trouble for 'starting it'. Worse than that, it was a toxic behavior to adjust to. It was becoming a reflex, a habit.

I had a group of friends where one of them was very entitled more often than not, I might have let myself be pushed around by her a lot too. I could've told her what I thought - regardless of immediate results - but instead I let my other friends make the decisions for me. My friends would pass her notes of names with me, half of which I didn't even know what they meant, but that didn't mean I wasn't a part of it. She was mean, but it didn't mean she deserved the same thing back. If anything, I could've realized that for my own sake, being able to act in such a way was poisoning me. Did I feel happy when my bullies had sick days? Of course. Did I silently celebrate when something bad happened to them by coincidence? Definitely. But whenever I expressed these things outwardly, it was far more negative. I was met with validation and became too comfortable with someone elses demise.

Later, when I was Marinette's age, I had a male bully. He had almost all of the boys in the class against me - at least when they were all together - simply because I pushed him away when he tried to sexually harrass me. We had been friends, I'd had a crush on him even, but at school things changed. He became my enemy. I was doing him the favor of thinking about him every day because of how angry he made me. Sometimes I talked back to him, but for the most part I ignored him. And you know what? He changed, so did all of his friends, and so did I. He talked to my brother when he found him crying in the bathroom, he helped me when my friend collapsed, he was maturing. Every 13/14 yo is in the prime of their petty, mean side; especially him, he was held back because of a language barrier and a bit of laziness, and he had bullies of his own. My friends from my elementary school are better too. The supposedly 'mean' one is actually the nicest one now, and she's doing great. The one who was a bit of a bad influence on me, well… I'm not sure I can say the same for her.

Obviously, there are people who can't even be talked to because of how horrible they are. We've all met someone who might even be psychologically incapable of being good. But that's the thing, Chloe does not exist as a character to represent all of the worst people of your life. She is not a fictional puncihing bag. If anything she's no worse if not tame compared to my experiences, and my experiences aren't even close to as bad as it gets. But my experiences were still having a negative impact on my growth, my worst enemy was myself. I noticed that the earlier memories where I responded with equal ferocity were much more emotionally fresh than when I was older and tried to be the better and more peaceful person. Adrien wasn't guilt tripping, he was pointing out that the problem they'd seen in Chloe hadn't left with her.


End file.
